I have an interior design!

[chevynut]

MY interior guy is coming over early next week to talk about construction of my door panels and inner quarter panels. I have been working on an interior design for several weeks, looking at lots of cars, and I think I have finally come up with one that I like. My trip to SEMA kind of solidified my direction after seeing so many custom cars.

I'm using some late-model OEM parts, as well as some custom stuff added to it. The interior will be 2-tone like a lot of modern cars I've seen....charcoal and beige leather. I will try to bring some of the exterior color into the car, if it works out right.

I am making my door panels out of an aluminum base, using foam and fiberglass for the final construction. The buildup of the panel is pretty tricky, since it's 3D and it all has to be covered with leather. So it will likely be assembled in pieces. I'm also using a late-model door handle and putting a map pocket in the door.

My interior guy likes where I'm going with it, but he wants to make sure he can cover it the way I want. So that's why we're consulting on it. I almost have his frame done, and I want to get him stated on my door panels and even the seats. That can all be done before the car is painted and he's also anxious to make progress.

Sorry, I'm not going to show any pictures until I get further along. I will take some construction pics too.

[NickP]

What are you doing for a headliner?

[chevynut]

I guess I should have said I have a door panel design, because I'm still working on some details for the seats, console, and cargo area. It will all come together now that I have door panels designed...they're central to making everything fit together.

The headliner will probably just be fabric of some sort. I'm using the stock Nomad chrome headliner bows. Nothing too fancy there. It will probably be charcoal color too, as will the 3-point seatbelts (I already bought some of a different color). The seats will be two-tone, in a design I haven't finalized yet.

I struggled with deciding to pain the dash the exterior color, or keeping it the colors of the interior. We talked about putting on a leather dash but then the beltline interior trim would have to be leather, or something close. So I haven't firmed that all up yet, but I think I know what I'm going to do. I don't know of many newer cars where the dash is the exterior color.

[carls 56 (RIP 11/24/2021)]

sounds good, exciting times ahead.

[ilike55s]

Yep, you're on the downhill side of finishing that project when you get installing the interior. I believe you stated one time,,,you had been working on it for,,,how many years??? I don't feel too bad bout my 23 years,,dang !!!!

[chevynut]

Yeah ilike55s, it's been a long haul. I had 2 false starts on the car before, back in the 70's and early 80's. First time it was going to be a gasser with a straight axle, then I changed my mind and put the stock front suspension on it with a home-brew disc brake kit and a C3 vette rearend. I even painted it. Then I got divorced and the car sat in storage for over 20 years. But this build has been long....at least 3 times as long as I thought it would take. It's like my shop...it's taken 4 times as long as I planned (3-4 months). I just wish my life expectancy increased by 4 times as well. LOL

[chevynut]

Well, as usual I have had a setback. I got the door panels pretty much made and ready for foam, and put them in the car. I matched the height of the armrests to the ones I made in the rear, which were based off of the height of a pair of HT armrests I had. I ASSUMED that they were the same height as the front armrests needed to be. I was trying to locate my door handles, and had my GF sit in the car to help me choose their location for the best ergonomics and looks. She made some comment about my armrest and where it would be...and pointed out that they're useless! They were too low.

So I measured the armrest height in the 56 parts car I have, and sure enough they were quite a bit low compared to stock. I have been working on re-designing a bunch of stuff (mostly re-locating) and trying to figure out where my armrests should be. To be usable, they need to be about 16 1/2"-16 3/4" minimum from the bottom of the door based on my seat height. The stock ones were about 17 1/4". But my seats are stock seats aren't the same height either.

So I started looking at pics of custom interiors, and I scaled off of them to determine the armrest height. One door panel from the Recovery Room has the armrest at 13 7/8" per my measurements. Others are at 16, 16 5/8, and 17", so nobody's putting them at stock height. I don't think the height is necessarily based on the seat height.

So I called my interior guy and talked to him about it. He said that some shops locate the armrest for aesthetics, and often they're totally useless as armrests. He said I should just decide if I want them to be functional, or just for looks. I figure going to all this trouble to build the door panels, they should be functional, so I'm back to the drawing board. I've been going back and forth on a design, trying to get it "just right" for the look I want.

[Olderthandirt]

My favorite saying is "These things take time"
On the bright side, at least the were not all completed before you discovered the issue.
Hope things all work out soon for you.

[chevynut]

I have completed the re-design and I think I like the new design better. It's "evolved" and I think it looks more modern and I like that. I have a little more work to do now, to re-do some of my aluminum panel work, but I think in the end I will like it better. I've learned a lot about how upholstery is done going through this and really have an appreciation for some of the work I've seen.